2025 French Polynesia Whale Swimming Regulatory Changes

Posted by Feylin@reddit | whales | View on Reddit | 5 comments

[-]

toebin_@reddit

This is really good news! I went in Moorea and was really lucky to be with very respectful guides who already did all these things, but once I saw an instance that was not ideal. Really good to see that it’s being enforced and regulated!

[-]

UltraBlue89@reddit

I had the same experience in Tahiti, but that was almost 10 years ago

[-]

babybeluga420@reddit

Good.

[-]

pPattyPup@reddit

Thank goodness, I was swimming with Humpbacks on the Silver Bank with marine conservationists and heard horror stories about Mo’orea.

[-]

Feylin@reddit (OP)

TLDR for the major items:

Limit of 7 people including guides can be in the water so no more boats dumping a dozen tourists in the water at a time.
100m exclusion zone around the whale for the boats
Only one boat per island per business owner limits the number of total boats available

If all of this is actually enforced and followed, it should help preserve the whale swimming industry in French Polynesia in the long run as things have gotten particularly bad in Mo'orea where whales would get swamped by dozens of tourists.